Thanks to flags, neither team is really moving the chains

The big news of the first half was the missing chains were found, which takes out the fan participation of holding the broom handles that served as markers.

It's a good thing too. Because they need the brooms to sweep up all the yellow flags on the field.

Every play or two the flags flew, causing the first half to take a year-and-a-half. Or just less than it took Phil Mickelson to find his ball on the 11th hole yesterday in Augusta.

There was even one play near the end of the half that featured three penalties, two by Spokane's defense.

Next home game, instead of handing out white Shock towels, how about yellow? Let's make everyone feel at home.

When there weren't penalties being called, the football was damn good, with Quad City's Kris Peters as good as advertised and the Shock defense able to hold its own with the Steamrollers' offense. At least it didn't get steamrolled (OK, you knew it was coming, right?).

Actually, Spokane has more total offensive yards (149 to 130) though all of them came through the air, with Andrico Hines 13 of 16 with one interception and three touchdowns. His counterpart, former Shock wanna-be J.J. Raterink, was 12 of 21 for 121 yards with an interception and two touchdowns.

Right now the difference is a single missed point after, which isn't surprising as the goal posts are as wide as my waistline. Well, maybe not that wide.

We'll be back after the game with a post sending you to the game story and some comments.

Posted April 7, 2007, 6:37 p.m.

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